Connecting International Experience andDispositions : A qualitative study of Japanese exchange and full-degreestudents in Sweden

The study explores the international experience of Japanese students who studied in anunconventional destination, Sweden. The study focuses on the entirety of their experience, fromchoosing the country as their destination to the impact of the experience on their future. It alsoanalyses how their experience may differ depending on whether they are exchange or full-degreestudents. Using the concept of habitus, field, and capital for investigating these two groups, thestudy aims to figure out the dispositions that led them to study abroad and what they gained byadding to their existing capital. I interviewed 14 students in total, seven full-degree and sevenexchange students.The interview results show that most interviewees had relatively high mobility and culturalcapital and good academic outcomes with financial support from their parents or scholarships.The interview results suggest that full-degree students tended to be more academically oriented,while exchange students valued personal relationships and self-development. The difference wasalso revealed in the skills that they gained and the perception of studying abroad. Although almostall interviewees had previous international experiences and some had longer international stays,they tended to compare their experience in Sweden to their experience in Japan, implying thattheir experience is influenced by perspectives nurtured in Japan. The majority of the intervieweeshad an image of Sweden based on the information that they gained, which is often interchangeablewith other Nordic countries or even just being a country in Europe.Furthermore, the majority of the interviewees had already decided to return to Japan orreserve their decision on where to live while some students responded that they expressed a desireto live in Sweden for longer terms. This showed that some interviewees understood that studyingabroad and immigrating are different while the experience in Sweden enforced their ideas of livingin Sweden or abroad in the future for other students